Peter Hokanson (see photos) has been appointed CFO of Yankee Pacific Aerospace Inc., Rye, N.H. Its Largo, Fla.-based Jormac Aerospace subsidiary has named Jerry Koh vice president-flight sciences and Colt Mehler vice president-project engineering. Hokanson succeeds Ron Moore, who was consulting CFO.
A government-issued 10-day notice to LAN Argentina to vacate its 2,500-sq.-meter hangar at Aeroparque airport in Buenos Aires without any forewarning, has provoked aviation labor unions to threaten strikes on Aug. 30 if the notice is not withdrawn. An Argentinean judge blocked the eviction on Aug. 28, and the CEOs of LAN and LAN Argentina met with the government's vice minster of economy on Aug. 29, who told the executives that LAN Argentina was welcome to continue operating in the country.
Luiz Sandler has been appointed vice president-sales for South America for the Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. He succeeds Bill Arrazola, who has retired. He was sales director for International Jet Traders, Gulfstream's sales representative for Brazil.
Bombardier has also signed an LOI to begin exploratory discussions with Irkut centered on potential collaboration customer support for Russia's 150-210-seat MS-21, which is scheduled to enter service in 2017.
Bombardier's first CSeries flight-test aircraft, FTV1, moved closer to first flight when it emerged from the paint shop at the Mirabel plant near Montreal on Aug. 22, having earlier begun low-speed taxi tests. These followed completion of thrust-reverser and stationary high-power runs of the Pratt & Whitney PW1500G geared turbofans. FTV1 has also completed aircraft-in-the-loop testing during which it was “flown” on the ground in a simulated flight environment to validate systems integration.
Sept. 3-6—39th European Rotorcraft Forum. Moscow. See erf2013.org/ Sept. 5-8—China Helicopter Exposition. See www.helicopter-china-expo.com/ Sept. 9-12—Fifth Boeing/Northrop Grumman/Elysium Joint Global Product Data Interoperability Summit. Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort, Chandler, Ariz. See www.gpdisonline.com Sept. 10-12—AIAA Space 2013 Conference and Exposition. San Diego. See www.aiaa.org/SPACE2013
Deepak Sharma has been promoted to company technical director of the London-based AJW Group from technical director of the AJW Aviation Div. Ruslan Nurislamov has been named Moscow-based vice president-business development of integrated aircraft support services in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States for AJW Aviation. He was general manager for Lufthansa Technik for Central Asia.
One hundred years ago, the University of Michigan hired Felix Pawlowski to teach the first U.S. students the subject of aeronautical engineering. Preparing a generation of engineers to build and assure the safety of a country's fledgling airline and aircraft industry was a daunting task. Today, the industry faces a similar challenge in laying the path to develop the nation's next generation of cybersecurity professionals.
It pays to be the new guy, according to data gathered for the 2013 Aviation Week Workforce Study. Pay for new college graduates rose by 3.4% between 2011 and 2012, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). In the aerospace and defense industry, the increase was slightly lower, at 3.2%. Companies with fewer employees worked to retain their workforces, awarding pay increases on average of 4.1%.
Berlin airport operator Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg appears to be delaying a firm commitment to an opening date for the new Berlin Brandenburg airport. CEO Hartmut Mehdorn said that he will announce a date within two to three months or maybe later. “We are not under pressure to perform,” he said. The opening has been delayed four times.
Mitsubishi Aircraft has again extended the development schedule for its MRJ regional jet, this time by about one-and-a-half years, with first delivery now due in the second quarter of 2017, nine years after the program was launched. The first flight, previously planned for the last quarter of this year, now is not expected until the second quarter of 2015.
With future budget reductions all but implemented, the chief of naval operations is underscoring the Navy's major defense acquisition priorities. Adm. Jonathan Greenert says the Navy will deliver the first-of-class USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) aircraft carrier in fiscal 2015 and maintain and modernize carrier air wings by fielding more F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, E/A-18 Growlers and E-2D Hawkeyes.
James P. Sohan has been named director of public safety for the Louisville (Ky.) Regional Airport Authority. He is a retired major in the Louisville Metro Police Department.
Almost every airline livery change recently has been a step backward, and the new one from American Airlines is no exception. Because of its size, AA's new livery is a double disappointment. Thankfully I work close to Toronto Pearson International Airport, so I have a bit more time to enjoy the “old” style on finals before the barbershop pole takes over. Toronto, Ontario
ObituarY: Paul Poberezny, the founder of the Oshkosh, Wis.-based Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) and the creator of the world's largest general aviation air show—AirVenture—died Aug. 22 from cancer at home in Oshkosh. He was 91. A self-taught aviator who began flying at age 16 in a Waco glider he refurbished, Poberezny started EAA in 1953 with his wife Audrey in the couple's basement near Milwaukee. An annual fly-in that would later become AirVenture started in Milwaukee before moving to Rockford, Ill., and ultimately to Wittman Field in Oshkosh.
Long-span wings generate less drag, but design rules limit their slenderness to avoid the potentially catastrophic aeroelastic instability known as flutter. Now, as part of the search for fuel efficiency and long endurance, flexible-wing control technology is being flight-tested to overcome those limits.
Workers at Lockheed Martin's Littleton, Colo., spacecraft facility prepare NASA's Maven (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) orbiter, the next U.S. mission to the red planet. Development of the high-heritage spacecraft draws on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and previously flown instruments to hold down cost and stay on schedule for a Nov. 18 launch date.
